32 Natural Theology. 



self-preserving, and elevating principles of the Bible, 

 than the flash of lightning is to be compared to the 

 sunlight. But though the sun is the great source 

 of light and life, it is not the only light that beams 

 from the heavens. The stars are still worthy of 

 ** our study and admiration. When the sun is down, 

 they give light to the traveller. By them the 

 mariner makes his way sure upon the pathless deep. 

 They are like the sun itself, eternal sources of light, 

 the same in kind, though to us offering faint and 

 feeble rays compared with his. From the study of 

 them, we arrive at a more perfect knowledge of the 

 sun itself than ever could be obtained from the 

 study of the sun alone. They are scattered over 

 the whole concave, some blazing with the brilliant 

 light of Sirius, others apparent only to the long- 

 continued gaze of the best-trained eye, and whole 

 firmaments are glittering with thousands beyond, 

 that only telescopic power can reveal. They well 

 represent the truths of Natural Religion. 



Whatever ideas may have been connected with the 

 L word religion, it now involves the idea of relation- 

 ship to a higher Being. The first condition, the 

 very foundation of this idea, is belief in the exist- 

 ence of such a Being. If proof of this is impos- 

 sible, then the word religion may remain, and it 

 may come to mean something ; but its present sig- 

 nificance must be entirely lost. Nor is the mere 

 existence of such a Being a sufficient basis for 

 religion. It may be a grand theme for philo- 

 sophic speculation ; but to make religion possible, 



